MY 20 FAVORITE SCI-FI MOVIES

MY 20 FAVORITE SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES

Movies in the science fiction genre are based on scientific facts as a jump-off point, and are often set in the future and and/or in space or on a distant worlds. It's interesting to note that sci-fi movies often highlight technological issues of the day: 1950s-1960s the threats of the atomic age, 1970s pollution and effects of hormones, etc., 1980s computers...and today? A.I.

As with any favorites list, this one is subject to change, but this is where things rate with me right now.

1. PROJECT HAIL MARY (2026) - Middle school science teacher/PhD molecular biologist Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. He discovers that his crew mates are dead, and then he begins to remember his mission: solve the riddle of why all the stars but one in the region are dying. 
2. THE MARTIAN (2015) - During an emergency evacuation, one member of a mission to Mars is lost and presumed dead. The survivors are soon headed safely home, but, in the meantime, NASA makes the shocking discovery that crew member who was left behind...is not dead.
3. GALAXY QUEST (1999) - A total parody of actors of the original Star Trek series, where former actors earn a living making appearances and attending Galaxy Quest conventions. But, when actual aliens show up and ask for their help, things take an interesting turn. 
4. STAR WARS (including ROGUE ONE (2106), and STAR WARS IV (1977), V (1980) and VI (1983)) - The fledgling rebellion wins its first victories against the evil galactic empire.
5. TRON (1982) and TRON: Legacy (2010) - When a brilliant video game maker named Kevin Flynn hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer to expose the person who stole his work, he is beamed inside an astonishing digital world and is forced to play the games he invented. Then his son accidentally winds up in the digital world as well.
6. ARRIVAL (2016) - When mysterious spacecraft appear across the globe, an elite team is brought together to investigate and to try to communicate with them. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, the team races against time for answers. 
7. CONTACT (1997) - A young astronomer devotes her life to the search for intelligent. When her former mentor, who believes she is wasting her potential, becomes head of the National Science Foundation he pulls her funding and shuts down her research program. Just then, she discovers what appears to be a signal from space. Could it be our first contact?
8. JURASSIC PARK (1993) - A group of scientists are brought to a remote tropical island in the hopes that they will endorse a new wildlife park. What kind of park is it? Paleontologist Alan Grant answers that question when in wide-eyed disbelief he says, "It's a dinosaur!"
9. THE HUNGER GAMES - original four (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) - Each year, an oppressive central government randomly selects two children ages 12-18 from each of the outlying twelve districts to participate in an annual battle to death for the entertainment of its citizens.
10. GATTACA (1997) - Vincent, a non-genetically engineered person, poses as someone else to pursue his dream of space exploration. However, a week before his mission launches, a murder marks Vincent as a suspect. With a relentless investigator in pursuit and the colleague he has fallen in love with beginning to suspect his deception, Vincent fears his dream may be slipping away.
11. ENDER'S GAME (2013) - An alien race called The Formics attacked Earth, and only the heroics of Commander Mazer Rackham saved the day and the planet. In preparation for the next attack, the International Military Academy is finding and training children who display tactical brilliance and leadership capabilities in the hopes that one of them will become the fleet admiral earth needs to repel the next invasion. 
12. FREE GUY (2021) - Guy is an NPC (non-player character) in the wildly popular video game Free City. However, when he sees the woman of his dreams, a first-player character, he speaks to her, and this causes Free City to spin off in a direction no one could possibly predict. 
13. STAR TREK (2009) - The rogue Romulan, Nero, comes through a wormhole from the future to take revenge on the Federation, and Spock in particular. With the the rest of Star Fleet's ships engaged elsewhere in the galaxy, cadets from Star Fleet Academy must face this challenge on their own.
14. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) - Brash space adventurer Peter Quill steals a coveted orb and becomes the target of a relentless bounty hunt. To evade his enemies, Quill forges an uneasy truce with Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly assassin Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax. 
15. Back to the Future I II III (1985, 1989, 1990) - Marty McFly accidentally travels 30 years back in time to 1955 in a time machine built by his friend Doc Brown. When he discovers that he's stranded there, Marty goes in search of younger Doc Brown in the hopes that he can help him get back to the future. But things go sideways when he crosses paths with his future parents, putting his own existence in peril.
16. INTERSTELLAR (2014) - Earth has deteriorated to the point that it will soon be unable to produce enough food to support life. The only option is to seek out other planets capable of supporting life. Just as Earth approaches this terrible crux moment, a wormhole opens up near Jupiter and reveals three possibilities. NASA, working in secret, launches expeditions to explore them. 
17. I, ROBOT (2004) - In the future, technology and robots are a trusted part of everyday life. But that trust is broken when the scientist who created the three laws for robots is found dead and a robot is accused of the crime. 
18. PLANET OF THE APES franchise (2011, 2014, 2017, 2024) - Caesar is a chimpanzee who gains human-like intelligence from an experimental drug developed to treat Alzheimer's patients. He and other apes who are given the drug, and their offspring, set the world on a different trajectory.
19. WARGAMES (1983) - A HS computer hacker wants to play new computer games before they are released. But when he unwittingly taps into the Defense Department's war simulation and control computer, he thinks he's just playing and game but sets pieces in motion that could result in global thermonuclear war.
20. THE LAST STARFIGHTER (1984) - Alex Rogan beats the high score on a Starfighter video game, and he becomes an unwilling recruit into Star League, an elite legion of interstellar fighters. Leaving behind his trailer park home for outer space, Alex becomes the last hope for the beleaguered Star League and hundreds of worlds – including Earth.